BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


.*#*********#*##*****    #    :;:    :;:    *    :;:    #    *    :;-.    #    #    *    #    :«:    :•:    : 
*********#:•:*    #    *    #    #    X    #    :•:    •:•    *    *    =>    :•'-    •:•    •'.•    -I-    #    •:•    -I-    •'••    -I-    *    *    * 


A  VISIT 


To  the  Mission  Indians  of 
Southern  California, 


AND   OTHER 


Western   Tribes. 

BY 

PROF.  C.  C.   PAINTER. 


Published  by  Order  of  Executive  Board. 


Office  of 

The  Indian  Rights  Association, 

1316  Filbert  St.,  Phila. 

1886. 


PRESS  OF  GRANT  &  FAIRES,  420  LIBRARY  STREET,  PHILADELPHI 


A   VISIT 


TO 


THE  MISSION  INDIANS 


OF 


SOUTHERN    CALIFORNIA, 


AND    OTHER 


WESTERN  TRIBES. 


BY 

PROF.  C.  C.  PAINTER. 


PUBLISHED  BY  ORDER  OF  EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE. 


OFFICE   OF    THE 

INDIAN  RIGHTS  ASSOCIATION, 

No.  1316  FILBERT  STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA. 

1886. 


u.  c. 

ACADEMY   OF 
C  COAST 
'DRY 


OFFICE  OF  THE  INDIAN  RIGHTS  ASSOCIATION, 
No.  1316  Filbert  Street,  Philadelphia. 


INDIAN    TERRITORY. 

Leaving  home  on  the  25th  of  May  last  for  an  extended  visit 
as  Agent  of  the  Indian  Rights  Association  to  various  Indian 
tribes,  my  first  stop  was  at  Vinita  in  the  Indian  Territory. 
Reaching  this  place  on  Saturday  in  time  to  attend  a  general 
caucus,  it  was  of  interest  to  see  how  largely  its  conduct  was 
in  the  hands  of  white  men  with  citizen's  rights,  and  of  half- 
breeds.  Whether  correct  or  not,  the  impression  produced  on 
the  mind  of  one  visiting  the  Territory,  observing  and  hearing 
what  he  can  from  those  with  whom  he  meets,  is  that  affairs  are 
very  largely  managed  and  controlled  by  the  white  blood, 
which  in  one  way  or  another  has  found  its  way  into  the  veins 
of  the  people,  or  into  positions  of  influence  among  them.  One 
who  has  spent  a  few  years  in  this  town,  as  Principal  of  its  most 
important  school,  asserts,  what  my  own  observation  so  far  as 
it  went  confirmed,  that  the  business  enterprise  and  thrift  of  the 
people  is  due  largely  to  this  white  element  That  a  painted 
house,  and  a  farm  well  stocked  and  managed  is  almost  certain 
proof  of  a  white  man  or  woman  on  the  premises. 

One  would  suppose  in  looking  at  the  classes  in  Worcester 
Academy  that  perhaps  one  in  ten  of  the  pupils  had  some 
Indian  blood,  and  is  greatly  surprised  to  know  that  there  is 
not  more  than  one  in  ten  who  has  not  enough  of  it  to  be 
classed  as  Indian,  and  draw  public  money. 

During  the  next  week  at  Muscogee,  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
attending  the  closing  exercises  of  the  Indian  University,  which 
had  just  dedicated  its  new,  beautiful  and  commodious  building 
at  this  place,  and  come  down  from  Talequah  to  occupy  it  for 
its  anniversary  exercises. 

3 


4 

There  were  gathered  under  its  evidently  excellent  managc- 
men  109  pupils,  8 1  of  whom  were  Cherokees ;  5  Choctaws ;  4 
Creeks;  I  Ottawa;  I  Chickasaw ;  I  Miami;  and  16  whites. 
Forgetting  where  he  was,  one  could  easily  have  imagined 
himself  in  attendance  upon  similar  exercises  in  connection 
with  one  of  our  Eastern  academies  or  high  schools.  Referring  to 
the  catalogue,  which  was  given  me  along  with  the  programme, 
I  was  able  to  discover,  what  in  many  cases  I  would  not  other 
wise  have  suspected,  that  such  and  such  a  one  was  an  Indian, 
and  not  a  white.  My  landlady  at  Vinita,  a  most  excellent 
Christian  woman,  who  with  her  husband,  an  employee  either 
of  the  railroad  company  or  of  the  telegraph  company,  has  re 
sided  for  several  years  in  this  town,  both  of  them  prominent  in 
Sunday-school  and  mission  work,  told  me  that  the  Cherokee 
girls,  many  of  them  educated,  refined  and  beautiful,  much  pre 
ferred  white  husbands,  and  did  not  look  favorably  upon  lovers 
of  their  own  nation,  but  this  caused  no  ill-feeling  on  the  part 
of  the  young  men  who  had  the  same  preference  for  white  girls. 
My  observation  was  that  in  many  cases  it  would  take  an 
expert  in  color  to  decide  the  question  as  to  race,  and  that  so 
far  as  these  people  are  concerned,  the  Indian  problem  would 
be  wiped  out  in  blood  within  a  few  generations. 

It  is  the  boast  of  those  who  extol  the  wonderful  civilization 
of  these  people  that  they  pay  no  taxes  and  have  no  paupers. 
Everybody  is  rich,  happy,  and  free  from  the  burdens  which 
oppress  other  civilized  peoples.  Unfortunately  for  me  there 
had  been  heavy  rainfalls,  and  the  streams  were,  many  of  them, 
unfordable,  and  I  was  therefore  unable  to  make  the  personal 
observations  on  which  decided  and  conclusive  opinions  ought 
to  be  based ;  but  this  fact  of  itself  is  warrant  for  some  definite 
conclusions. 

The  country  of  which  I  speak,  especially  in  the  northeast 
portion  of  it,  is  one  of  the  loveliest  regions  of  the  Southwest, 
and  the  people  who  occupy  it  one  of  the  richest.  Their  civil 
ization  is  by  many  extolled  as  most  wonderful,  wrought  out 
under  a  tribal  and  communistic  system,  a  model  to  which 


other  Indians  ought  to  conform.  Honorable  senators,  some 
of  whom  a  few  months  ago  said  there  was  not  a  single  case 
known  of  an  Indian  who  had  made  a  white  man  of  himself,  as 
they  come  back  from  a  recent  visit  are  enthusiastic  over  what 
they  have  found,  and  desirous  that  other  and  remote  tribes 
shall  be  induced,  or  forced  to  come  in  and  partake  of  its 
benefits. 

I  could  not  get  over  the  country  to  see  it  fully,  neither  could 
these  senators.  The  roads  of  this  wonderfully  rich,  prosper 
ous,  untaxed  people  were  good  as  untraveled  prairie  roads  are 
under  varying  conditions  of  the  weather,  and  the  streams  cross- 
able,  where  Nature  had  not  filled  them  too  full,  nor  fenced 
them  in  with  banks  too  high.  There  are  no  paupers  and  no 
taxes,  but  it  would  not  require  many  fingers  on  which  to  count 
the  appliances  of  a  high  civilization,  for  which  such  a  civilization 
necessarily  imposes  taxes.  Outside  the  Mission  schools  and  a 
few  National  schools  in  the  more  important  places,  used  chiefly 
by  children  whose  Indian  blood  has  been  drowned  out  by  an 
infusion  of  white,  the  schoolhouses  are  miserable  pens,  and  the 
schools  of  the  poorest  quality.  Much  is  said  of  their  wealth, 
intelligence,  self-government,  and  most  hopeful  progress,  and 
all  this  by  those  who  would  use  it  as  an  argument  in  favor  of 
keeping  the  Indian  under  the  system  which  has  been  the  effi 
cient  cause  of  their  civil  and  social  development. 

Let  us  make  a  comparison:  In  1830  the  Cherokees  in 
Northern  Georgia  had  a  government  of  their  own,  indicative 
of  considerable  growth  in  civilization.  They  owned  2,943 
plows,  or  one  to  each  family  of  five  persons ;  1 72  wagons ; 
25,000  sheep  ;  7,600  horses ;  22,000  cattle ;  46,000  swine ;  eight 
cotton  machines  ;  762  looms  ;  2,488  spinning  wheels ;  ten  saw 
mills ;  thirty-one  grist  mills  ;  sixty-two  blacksmith  shops,  etc., 
etc.  They  lived,  almost  without  exception,  in  good  log  houses 
with  floors,  doors,  windows,  and  chimneys,  equal  to  those  occu 
pied  by  the  whites  who  surrounded  them.  They  tilled  the  soil 
and  drew  from  it  their  support,  hunting  and  fishing  only  for 
diversion.  This  was  fifty-six  years  ago,  and  what  they  had 


was  the  creation  of  their  own  toil,  the  outcome  of  a  healthful 
and  natural  growth.  They  indeed  still  held  their  lands  by  a 
National  and  not  by  an  individual  title,  but  were  making  such 
use  of  them  as  would  soon  have  compelled  a  personal  title  in 
form  as  it  already  was  in  effect. 

Take  from  them  to-day  the  wealth  they  have  not  earned,  but 
which  is  at  once  the  evidence  and  the  means  of  their  demorali 
zation,  as  unearned  wealth  almost  universally  and  inevitably  is  ; 
discount  all  the  evidence  of  thrift  and  growth  which  is  due  to 
the  activity  of  the  eagles  attracted  to  this  fat  carcass ;  strip  from 
them  so  much  of  their  civilization  as  is  but  a  thin  veneer,  glued 
or  nailed  on  from  without,  not  developed  from  within,  and  in 
my  judgment  the  showing  is  not  so  good,  certainly  not  so  full 
of  promise  as  it  was  fifty-six  years  ago. 

The  convention  at  Vinita  and  the  anniversary  of  the  Indian 
University  at  Muscogee,  brought  together  many  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  Territory,  and  as  it  was  just  at  the  time  when  a 
committee  of  the  United  States  Senate  was  on  a  visit  of  inquiry 
touching  certain  questions  of  most  vital  interest  to  the  people, 
I  was  able  to  gather  something  of  their  views  from  the  discus 
sions  going  on  among  them. 

Many  were  saying,  what  I  was  told  it  would  not  have  been 
safe  for  them  to  have  said  a  few  years  since,  that  the  time  is  near 
and  even  here,  when  their  civilization  must  have  for  its  basis 
the  individual  and  the  family,  not  the  tribe.  Complications  grow 
ing  out  of  the  use  of  vacant  lands ;  the  ease  with  which,  under 
pretense  of  Indian  blood,  white  men 'were  getting  a  quasi  claim 
to  lands  from  which  they  cannot  dislodge  them  except  with 
the  consent  of  the  United  States  Court,  thus  enlarging  the 
divisor  and  minimizing  the  quotient  when  a  final  division  shall 
be  made,  these  and  other  causes  are  precipitating  the  conclu 
sion  that  it  must  be  made  soon.  One  fear  "  gives  pause  "  to 
this  conclusion,  that  is,  that  Congress  may  limit  them  to  an 
allotment  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  each.  There  are 
difficulties  in  the  way  and  grave  questions  to  settle,  but  who 
ever  accepts  the  declarations  of  those  who  are  chiefly  benefited 


by  the  present  condition  of  things  as  containing  the  whole 
truth,  either  as  to  the  advisability  of  continuing  it,  or  the  unan 
imous  desire  that  it  should  be,  is  greatly  mistaken.  There  is 
great  ferment,  and  things  are  hastening  to  a  crisis,  and  a  much 
provoking  cause  is  the  lease  of  grazing  lands,  and  the  questions 
growing  out  of  it 

I  made  a  visit  to  the  several  tribes  gathered  about  the  Qua- 
paw  Agency,  occupying  a  well-watered,  well-timbered,  very 
fertile  and  most  beautiful  portion  of  the  Territory.  There  are 
nearly  eleven  hundred  of  these  Indians  of  various  tribes  on 
separate  reservations  aggregating  more  than  200,000  acres  of 
land,  more  than  9,000  of  which  are  under  cultivation,  or  about 
nine  acres  to  each  man,  woman  and  child. 

The  Modocs,  Peorias,  Miamas,  and  Wyandotts  especially 
seem  to  be  well  along  on  the  road  toward  civilization  and  self- 
support,  and,  with  a  personal,  protected  title  to  their  home 
steads,  which  they  much  desire,  and  the  rights,  opportunities, 
and  protection  of  men  under  a  free  government,  they  would 
soon  be  fitted  for  the  duties  of  full  citizenship. 

It  would  not  be  fair  to  adduce  the  case  of  the  Modocs  as 
illustrating  what  has  been,  or  can  be  done,  by  and  through  the 
agency  of  the  Indian  Department,  and  under  the  agency  and 
reservation  system,  acting  upon  the  Indians  as  so  many  pup 
pets,  with  none  of  the  powers  of  rational  men,  amenable  to 
none  of  the  motives  by  which  men  are  usually  moved.  Their 
progress  has  been  indeed  marvellous,  and  is  conclusive  that  the 
Indian,  even  the  most  desperate  and  savage,  as  these  were  re 
garded  when  they  came  fresh  from  the  Lava  beds,  makes  a 
ready  response  to  appeals  to  his  manhood,  and  readily  rises  up 
to  the  level  of  a  man's  chances  when  and  so  far  as  they  are 
accorded  him. 

One  cannot  spend  a  few  days  with  John  Watson,  the  Quaker 
missionary,  and  make  himself  acquainted  with  his  work  and 
'that  of  his  noble  wife  and  daughters,  without  discovering  the 
secret  of  this  success ;  a  secret  which  the  machinery  of  the 
Bureau  does  not  contain :  a  secret  so  simple  that  it  has  been 


8 

missed  and  despised  when  hinted  at ;  it  is  simply  a  recognition 
of  manhood,  and  giving  to  it  its  opportunities,  and  appealing 
to  its  inherent  qualities.  This  Mr.  Watson,  and  those  who, 
with  and  before  him,  have  dealt  with  the  Modocs  for  the  past 
twelve  years  have  done.  His  good  work  is  limited  and  ham 
pered  by  the  inevitable  procrusteanism  of  the  system  under 
which  the  Indian  is  placed,  but  in  spite  of  it  has  made  great 
progress. 

The  prairie  about  the  Agency  saw  mill  was  covered  with 
logs,  cut  and  hauled  by  the  Modocs,  who  hoped  during  this 
fall  and  winter  to  add  good  barns  to  their  comfortable  farm 
houses,  but  as  Congress  made  no  allowances  for  a  machinist  to 
run  the  saw,  it  stands  idle,  and  the  enthusiastic  hopes  of  the 
people  have  opportunity  to  decay  along  with  their  unhoused 
crops,  one  of  many  striking  illustrations  which  every  visitor  to 
Indian  reservations  sees  of  the  difficulty  of  civilizing  a  people 
by  a  machine  invented,  with  wonderful  complication,  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting  the  Treasury  against  possible  rascalities, 
its  several  parts  presided  over  and  adjusted  by  machinists,  all 
of  whom  have  independent  and  conflicting  ends  to  gain,  and 
diverse  interests  to  subserve. 

High  waters,  and  the  very  unsettled  condition  of  affairs  mak 
ing  it  dangerous  to  do  so  without  an  escort,  prevented  my  vis 
iting  the  Oklahoma  District,  and  the  Indians  in  the  western 
part  of  the  Territory,  as  it  was  the  wish  of  the  Association, 
and  my  plan  to  do. 

APACHES. 

The  utter  ignorance  of  the  soldiers  as  to  the  whereabouts  of 
the  hostile  Apaches  ;  the  terror  of  the  settlers  and  miners, 
some  of  whom  I  met  at  El  Paso,  having  fled  from  the  mines ; 
the  advice  of  all  whom  I  consulted,  together  with  a  failure  to 
find  at  Wilcox  a  response  to  my  letter  to  the  Agent  asking  if 
I  should  attempt  it,  forced  me  to  give  up  my  proposed  visit  to 
the  San  Carlos  Reservation. 


9 

The  wonderful  ubiquity  of  these  hostiles,  some  forty  to  sixty 
in  number,  forced  the  question  whether  or  not  white  desperadoes 
were  not  responsible  for  much  of  the  terror,  and  many  of  the 
atrocities  attributed  to  this  little  band  of  Geronimo  :  a  question 
answered  affirmatively,  I  understood,  by  the  military  authori 
ties.  Such  has  been  the  case  at  other  times  undoubtedly.  A 
double  purpose  is  thus  accomplished;  the  acquisition  of  booty 
with  slight  risk  of  punishment,  and  a  more  intense  and  seem 
ingly  justifiable  demand  for  the  removal,  if  not  the  extermina 
tion,  of  all  the  Apaches,  since  it  must  be  evident  that  others 
than  this  small  band  are  on  the  war-path,  and  these  others  must 
be  the  so-called  peaceable  Indians  from  the  reservations. 

I  would  not  class  myself  with  those  who,  in  pleading  the 
cause  of  the  Indian,  assume  that  he  is  always  faultless,  and 
the  whites  are  necessarily  the  aggressors ;  neither  will  I  go 
back  and  rehearse  the  wrongs  suffered  by  these  people  in  the 
past,  wrongs  sufficient  to  make  desperate  a  more  saintly  race 
than  the  Apaches ;  but  there  are  a  few  facts  which  the  public 
do  not  know,  pertinent  to  this  case  of  outbreak,  which  should 
have  their  full  weight  in  shaping  our  judgment  of  it.  These 
Indians  were  under  a  double-headed  and  not  harmonious 
management.  The  Agent,  Mr,  Ford,  was  instructed  to  include 
this  band  of  Chiracahuas  in  his  issue  of  annuity  goods.  He 
informed  the  military  officer  in  charge  that  he  had  the  goods 
and  wished  to  arrange  to  distribute  them.  This  officer  sent  a 
pack  team  to  receive  them  in  bulk.  The  Agent  said,  truly, 
that  under  the  law  he  must  issue  to  the  individual  Indian,  taking 
his  receipt,  and  could  not  issue  them  to  the  officer  in  bulk. 
The  latter  would  receive  them  in  no  other  way,  and  so  during 
the  winter  of  1875,  one  of  unusual  severity,  these  poor  fellows 
were  coralled  in  a  sort  of  Andersonville,  on  short  rations,  and 
almost  absolutely  naked.  As  Agent  of  the  Indian  Rights 
Association,  I  called  these  facts  to  the  attention,  both  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  urging 
the  danger  of  outbreak,  and  asking  that  instructions  should  be 
given  which  would  relieve  the  Indians.  What  was  finally  done 


10 

in  regard  to  an  issue  of  these  goods  I  am  unable  to  say,  further 
than  that  correspondence  between  the  two  Departments  re 
sulted,  I  was  told,  in  the  removal  of  the  officer  in  charge. 
This  was  after  the  protracted  sufferings  of  the  whole  winter, 
and  these  men  had  the  experience  of  these  terrible  months 
back  of  them  when  they  resolved  to  cut  their  way  out. 


PAPAGOES   AND    PIMAS. 

The  limit-  on  my  transportation  forbade  my  stopping  longer 
at  Tucson,  near  which  place  are  the  Papagoes  and  Pimas, 
through  whose  reservations  the  railroad  passes,  than  to 
gather  that  these  people  are  on  executive  Reservations ;  that 
again  and  again  the  whites  have  intruded  upon  them,  and  have 
been  put  off  by  the  Agent,  whose  removal  in  turn  is  much  de 
sired  by  the  whites.  There  are  some  12,000  Indians  in  all  on 
the  reservation  under  care  of  this  Agent.  Much  trouble  has 
been  experienced  from  the  sale  of  whiskey  to  them.  They 
are  good  workers,  and  as  laborers  are  much  needed  and  de 
sired  by  the  whites,  but  as  land  owners  their  presence  would 
be  much  deprecated.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  their 
tenure  to  this  land  is  very  frail — the  mere  will  of  an  executive 
who  is  elected  by  the  votes  of  those  who  want  land ;  and  that 
to  maintain  the  interest  of  the  Indian  he  must  desert  those 
who  can  give  votes  to  his  party,  and  stand  by  those  who  can 
not.  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  celebrated 
Dawes-Coke  Bill,  while  it  would  give  a  title  by  act  of  Congress 
to  Indians  on  treaty  and  Congressional  reservations  to  their 
land  for  twenty-five  years,  does  not  so  protect  those  on  Execu 
tive  reservations,  and  this  omission  is  not  an  oversight,  but 
because  to  do  so  would,  it  is  said  by  way  of  explanation, 
endanger  the  bill. 

The  public  mind  ought  to  be  informed,  and  stirred  up  in 
view  of  this  danger,  and  some  protection  given  before  it  is  too 
late. 


II 

THE   MISSION   INDIANS. 

The  Century  for  December,  1885,  contains  the  "Last  Poems 
of  Helen  Jackson."  One  of  these,  "  Acquainted  with  Grief," 
is  dated  July  1st,  and  by  this  I  am  satisfied  that  it  was  the 
one  I  saw  lying  unfinished,  by  her  side,  during  one  of  the  in 
terviews  I  had  with  her  during  the  latter  part  of  June.  Those 
who  were  privileged  to  see  her  during  these  days,  her  face 
radiant  as  the  face  of  an  angel  with  the  glow  of  earth's  sunset, 
and  the  ruddy  flush  of  heaven's  sunrise,  can  bear  testimony  to 
the  completeness  of  her  victory  over  her  enemy  Grief.  Her 
triumph  had  not  the  slightest  trace  of  revenge  or  defiance,  but 
of  sweet  peace  alone,  as  she  sang : 

"   .  .  .  ;  yet  stands  she,  slave, 

Helpless  before  our  one  behest ; 
The  gods,  that  we  be  shamed  not,  gave 
And  locked  the  secret  in  our  breast. 

"  She  to  the  gazing  world  must  bear 

Our  crowns  of  triumph,  if  we  bid  : 
Loyal  and  mute,  our  colors  wear, 
Sign  of  her  own  forever  hid. 

"  Smile  to  our  smile,  song  to  our  song, 

With  songs  and  smiles  our  roses  fling 
Till  men  turn  round  In  every  throng, 
To  note  such  joyous  pleasuring, 

"And  ask  next  morn,  with  eyes  that  lend 

A  fervor  to  the  words  they  say, 
'  What  is  her  name,  that  radiant  friend, 
Who  walked  beside  you  yesterday? '  " 

It  is  not  claiming  too  much  to  say,  that  among  the  comforts 
of  her  closing  days,  not  the  least  to  her,  was  the  fact  that  the 
Indian  Rights  Association  had  sent  its  Agent  out  to  investigate 
the  condition  of  those  people  whose  sad  story  she  has  told  in 
Ramona  with  such  moving  pathos,  and  whose  wretched  and 
hopeless  condition  weighed  so  heavily  upon  her  heart.  She 
was  familiar  with  our  work — knew  what  had  been  done  for  the 


12 

Sioux  at  large,  and  for  those  at  Crow  Creek  ;  for  the  starving 
Piegans  and  other  cases,  in  which  we  had  succeeded  in  righting 
wrongs  and  correcting  abuses ;  and  where  I  feared  a,  to  her, 
tedious  explanation  of  myself  and  object  in  coming  to  see  her, 
she  interposed  a  joyous  exclamation  of,  "  Oh,  is  this  you ! 
there  is  no  one  in  the  United  States  whom  I  so  much  wanted 
to  see." 

When,  at  her  earnest  request,  I  concluded  to  pay  the  Mis 
sion  Indians  a  second  visit  (I  had  visited  a  number  of  their 
villages  before  seeing  her),  she  wrote  Don  Antonio  F.  Coronel, 
of  Los  Angeles,  who,  with  his  good  wife,  are  the  best  friends 
these  Indians  have  in  California,  that  I  was  going  to  visit  the 
Indians,  and  that  no  one  else  could  do  for  them  what  I  could  do. 

I  know  this  was  said,  of  me  only  as  the  representative  of  the 
Indian  Rights  Association,  and  I  know,  also,  that  it  helped  to 
sweeten  the  bitterness  of  death  to  that  sainted  woman,  when 
she  could  commit,  as  she  did,  her  unfinished  work  to  our  hands. 
I  feel  she  has  done  this  with  the  confidence  that  we  would  take 
it  up  strongly,  and  urge  it  persistently,  until  it  shall  be  accom 
plished,  and  I  write  thus  hoping  and  believing  that  the  Indian 
Rights  Association  will  feel  the  pressure  of  a  most  solemn 
obligation,  and  believing  also  the  American  people  can  now, 
that  her  voice  comes  back  from  the  heavenly  land,  be  stirred, 
as  never  before,  in  view  of  the  wrongs  of  these  poor  people. 

Let  the  people  know  in  brief  this  story,  and  that  we  have 
taken  up  this  work  where  she  left  it,  and  I  am  confident  they 
will  sustain  us  in  it,  and  push  it  to  its  completion. 

The  Los  Angeles  Herald  of  June  gth,  1885,  tells  their  story 
in  brief,  as  follows :  "  These  aborigines,  though  alive,  are 
good  Indians.  For  the  most  part  they  are  moral  and  relig 
ious,  and  have  earned  their  own  living  by  cultivating  the  soil 
on  which  they  were  born,  and  which  was  the  exclusive 
property  of  their  ancestors.  Day  by  day  they  find  themselves 
crowded  to  the  wall.  Their  lands  are  jumped,  their  hunting 
grounds  have  been  curtailed,  and  they  find  their  means  of 
making  a  livelihood  restricted.  Not  being  marauders  and 


13 

murderers  the  government  of  the  United  States  will  do  nothing 
for  them." 

Their  pitiful  story  was  told  by  themselves  in  a  petition 
drawn  up  by  them,  dated  Feb.  7th,  1878,  addressed  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  the  Interior.  I  give  it  as  translated  for  me  from  the 
Spanish,  as  written  by  the  Indians  themselves,  by  a  Mexican 
lady,  Mrs.  Coronel,  of  Los  Angeles. 

PETITION  TO  THE  MINISTER  AT  WASHINGTON  : 

We,  the  undersigned  Indians  Christian  of  San  Louis  Rey,  Cal.,  hum 
bly  and  respectfully  beg,  in  view  of  all  the  troubles  continual  that  con 
stantly  we  have  all  the  time  between  ourselves  and  the  whites,  on  all 
sides  and  manners  ;  they  mistreat  and  abuse  us,  taking  away  our  lands 
possessed  from  our  grandfathers,  which,  since  we  can  remember,  have 
been  ours  alone.  In  view  of  all  the  dangers  and  difficulties  in  which  we 
find  ourselves  from  the  white  people,  we  request,  Mr.  Minister  at  Wash 
ington,  that  you  separate  and  point  out  to  us  some  land  where  we  can 
keep  our  cattle,  and  be  able  to  cultivate  the  land  to  maintain  our  fami 
lies. 

We  do  not  ask,  Mr.  Minister,  for  the  Government  to  give  us  money, 
nor  blankets,  nor  seeds  ;  only  some  lands  for  us  to  cultivate  for  the  sup 
port  of  our  families,  and  to  raise  our  animals  to  work  our  lands,  and  that 
this  land  shall  be  protected  against  the  whites,  and  that  you  hold  a  pro 
tection  over  us  so  that  it  cannot  be  taken  from  us.  And,  very  much,  we 
wish,  Mr.  Minister,  to  establish  some  schools  among  us  for  our  boys  and 
girls  so  they  can  learn  like  whites,  so  they  will  be  good  to  our  God, 
and  to  our  fellow-man,  and  to  Government ;  so  that  they  will  be  good 
citizens. 

To  the  present  we  have  asked,  nor  received  no  assistance,  moral, 
physical  nor  material — no  pay  from  government.  Now  we  only  ask 
for  land  and  for  protection  on  it,  so  we  may  support  our  families  with 
our  labor.  This  favor  we  ask,  and  expect  of  you,  Mr.  Minister,  we  who 
sign  this  paper. 

That  nothing  has  been  done,  is  not  because  Congress  has 
been  ignorant  of  the  situation.  Attention  has  been  called 
again  and  again,  many  times,  and  most  urgently  to  their  sad 
plight,  during  the  past  thirty-three  years,  both  by  the  Agents 
in  charge,  and  by  special  commissions  sent  out  to  investigate 
and  report.  Elaborate  reports  of  facts  with  recommendations 


were  made  by  Mr.  Jno.  G.  Ames  in  1873 ;  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Wet- 
more  in  1874,  and  by  Mrs.  Jackson  and  Mr.  Kinney  in  1882. 
A  Committee  from  the  United  States  Senate  with  Mr.  Dawes 
as  chairman  have  also  since  this  last  date  visited  them. 

There  is  no  dispute  as  to  the  fact  that  these  Indians,  Chris 
tian,  civilized,  self-supporting,  have  been  crowded,  and  are 
being  crowded — those  of  San  Fernando  within  the  past  few 
weeks — from  the  lands  on  which  they  have  always  lived,  and 
to  which  they  have,  in  the  estimation  of  good  lawyers,  a  valid 
legal,  as  well  as  a  just  and  equitable  title;  and  yet,  Congress, 
knowing  the  facts,  has  contented  itself  with  expending  money 
on  special  commissions  and  committees,  and  elaborate  reports, 
giving  comfortable  jobs  to  white  men,  and  then  suffering  the 
cry  of  these  poor  people  to  die  out  amid  the  din  of  white  in 
terests,  and  the  reported  facts  to  lie  buried  out  of  sight. 

With  other  Indians  we  have  made  treaties  by  which,  in 
most  cases,  we  have  extinguished  their  title  to  the  lands  taken 
from  them,  but  as  regards  these  Mission  Indians  a  Committee 
of  the  United  States  Senate  to  whom  this  matter  was  referred 
reported  that  no  such  treaty  was  necessary : 

"That  the  United  States  acquiring  possession  of  the  territory  from 
Mexico,  succeeded  to  its  right  in  the  soil ;  and  as  that  government  re 
garded  itself  as  the  absolute  and  unqualified  owner  of  it,  and  held  that 
the  Indian  had  no  usufructuary  or  other  rights  therein  which  were  to  be 
in  any  manner  respected,  they,  the  United  States,  were  under  no  obliga 
tions  to  treat  with  the  Indians  occupying  the  same  for  the  extinguishment 
of  their  title." 

This  Honorable  Senatorial  Committee  seems  not  to  have 
read  the  elaborate  report  of  its  own  Commissioner,  Wm.  Carey 
Jones,  who  had  carefully  investigated  the  nature  of  the  Indians' 
title  to  land  under  Spanish  and  Mexican  rule,  who  says : 

"  It  is  a  principle  constantly  laid  down  in  the  Spanish  Colonial  laws, 
that  the  Indians  shall  have  a  right  to  as  much  land  as  they  need  for  their 
habitations,  for  tillage,  and  for  the  pasturage  of  their  flocks.  When  they 
were  already  partially  settled  in  communities,  sufficient  of  the  land  which 
they  occupied  was  secured  to  them  for  those  purposes." 


15 
Again  he  says : 

"The  early  laws  were  so  tender  of  these  rights  of  the  Indians  that  they 
forbade  the  allotment  of  lands  to  the  Spaniards,  and  especially  the  rear 
ing  of  stock  where  it  might  interfere  with  the  tillage  of  the  Indians. 

' '  The  lands  set  apart  to  them  were  inalienable  except  by  the  advice 
and  consent  of  officers  of  the  Government,  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect 
the  natives  as  minors  or  pupils.  Agreeably  to  the  theory  and  spirit  of 
these  laws,  the  Indians  of  California  were  always  supposed  to  have  a 
certain  property  or  interest  in  the  Missions.  The  instructions  of  1773 
authorized  the  commandant  of  the  province  to  make  grants  to  the  Mis 
sion  Indians  of  lands  of  the  Missions  either  in  community  or  individually. 
The  law  always  intended  the  Indians  of  the  Missions — all  of  them  who  ' 
remained  there — to  have  homes  upon  the  Mission  grounds.  The  same, 
I  think,  may  be  said  of  the  large  ranchos — most  of  them  were  formerly 
Mission  ranchos — and  of  the  Indian  settlements  or  rancherias  upon  them. 
I  understand  the  law  to  be,  that  whenever  Indian  settlements  are  estab 
lished,  and  they  till  the  ground,  they  have  a  right  of  occupancy  in  the 
land  which  they  need  and  use,  and  whenever  a  grant  is  made  which 
includes  such  settlements  the  grant  is  subject  to  such  occupancy." 

It  is  evident  that  this  Honorable  Committee  did  not  make 
itself  acquainted  with  the  regulations  for  the  secularization  of 
Missions,  and  the  instructions  given  the  Commissioner  en 
trusted  with  the  duty  of  making  an  inventory  of  the  Mission 
property.  Article  IV.,  of  these  regulations,  says : 

"Before  taking  an  inventory  of  articles  belonging  to  the  field,  the 
Commissioner  will  inform  the  natives,  explaining  to  them  with  mildness 
and  patience,  that  the  Missions  are  to  be  changed  into  villages,  which 
will  only  be  under  the  priests  so  far  as  relates  to  spiritual  matters  ;  that 
the  lands  and  property  for  which  each  one  labors  are  to  belong  to  him 
self,  and  are  to  be  maintained  and  controlled  by  himself  without  depend 
ing  on  any  one  else." 

It  seems  almost  cruel  to  quote  the  language  of  Manuel  Pena 
y  Pena,  President  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice  in  Mexico, 
taken  from  his  "  Discourses  on  Mexican  practice  at  the  bar," 
in  contrast  with  this  report  of  the  Senate  Committee  quoted 
above.  After  speaking  of  the  fact  that  in  the  earlier  days  the 
natives  were  regarded  as  minors,  and  were  put  under  restric 
tions  as  to  the  alienation  of  property,  &c.,  he  says : 


i6 

"But  when  a  free  government  was  adopted,  Indians  were  regarded 
as  equal  with  Spanish  subjects,  and  much  more  were  they  so  regarded 
with  all  Mexican  citizens,  inasmuch  as  our  independence  being  estab 
lished  and  ratified,  IT  WAS  FOUNDED  ON  THE  BASIS  OF  EQUALITY  OF 

CIVIL  RIGHTS  AMONG  ALL  THE  FREE  INHABITANTS  OF  OUR  COUNTRY 
WHAT  EVER  MIGHT  HAVE  BEEN  THEIR  ORIGIN  IN  THE  FOUR  QUARTERS 

OF  THE  WORLD,  insomuch  that  the  King  of  Spain,  in  presence  of  the 
council  of  state,  declared  that  being  equal  under  the  Spanish  Constitu 
tion,  ALL  BEING  FREEMEN  AND  CITIZENS  in  the  Spanish  territory  with 
out  any  distinction,  THE  INDIANS  HAD  ESCAPED  FROM  THE  STATE  OF 
MINORITY  to  which  they  were  previously  subject,  and  should  be  looked 

Upon  as  EQUAL  IN  ALL  RESPECTS  TO  THE  SPANIARDS  OF  BOTH  HEMI 
SPHERES." 

Compare  this  utterance  of  this  Mexican  official  as  to  its  tone 
with  that  of  this  Senatorial  Committee,  and  of  the  Register  of 
lands  as  given  by  Mr.  Ames  below ;  and  the  attitude  of  the 
Spanish  and  Mexican  Governments  toward  the  Indian  with 
that  of  our  own,  and  shame  must  mantle  the  cheek  of  every 
honest  and  honorable  citizen  who  reads  the  history  of  the 
injustice  and  heartless  cruelty  which  they  have  suffered  since 
they  came  under  the  protection  (?)  of  our  Christian  Republic. 

Mr.  Ames  says : 

•".In  accordance  with  these  views  the  present  (1873)  land  register  holds 
that  the  location  of  an  Indian  family  or  families  on  land  which  a  white 
man  desires  to  settle  is,  in  law,  no  more  a  bar  to  such  settlement  than 
would  be  the  presence  of  a  stray  sheep  or  cow.  And  so  like  sheep  or 
cattle  they  have  been  driven  from  their  homes  and  cultivated  fields,  the 
Government,  through  its  officers,  refusing  to  hear  their  protests  as  though 
in  equity  as  well  as  in  law  they  had  no  rights  in  the  least  deserving 
attention." 

What  Mr.  Ames  and  Mr.  Wetmore  and  Mrs.  Jackson  found 
to  be  true,  is/true  to-day.  The  feeble  remnant  of  old  men  and 
women  surviving  at  San  Fernando  has  just  been  thrust  out. 
At  San  Ysabel  the  Indians  are  notified  by  the  recent  purchaser 
of  the  Wilcox  claim  to  that  ranch,  that  they  cannot  keep  any 
more  stock,  and  that  they  must  go.  At  Palma  the  renters  of 


Bishop  Moro's  claim,  kill  the  Indians'  stock  and  are  crowding 
them  so  they  cannot  live  there.  The  suit  of  Mr.  Byrnes  for 
the  ejectment  of  the  Saboba  Indians  was  decided  against  the 
Indians  by  default,  the  attorney  for  the  Government  (it  having 
undertaken  to  defend  the  Indians'  title)  not  appearing  when 
the  case  was  called. 

It  has  since,  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Wells,  been  restored  to 
the  calendar,  but  Mr.  Wells  has  withdrawn  from  the  case,  be 
cause  the  Government  refuses  to  allow  even  his  necessary  ex 
pense  account.  At  my  earnest  request  the  Government  has 
appointed  special  counsel  to  take  up  and  defend  the  rights  of 
these  Indians,  but  appointed  him. to  serve  without  compensa 
tion.  It  seems  evident  that  this  effort  must  be  sustained  and 
pushed  by  our  Association. 

Space  will  not  admit  of  my  presenting  the  pitiful  facts  as  I 
learned  them  at  some  eight  or  ten  different  rancheros,  and  in  a 
number  of  conferences  with  the  people.  It  was  the  same 
pathetic  and  most  shameful  story  at  every  one  of  these  places. 

These  people  are  able  and  willing  to  take  care  of  themselves, 
and  all  they  ask  is  the  simple  right  to  do  so.  Either  they  have 
rights,  or  they  have  not.  In  my  estimation,  the  first  and  only 
thing  is  to  settle  that  question,  and  if  they  have,  establish  and 
guarantee  those  rights,  and  the  Indian  will  do  the  rest  for  him 
self.  To  send  out  agents  who  have  neither  power  nor  author 
ity  to  do  anything ;  to  send  out  committees  and  commissioners 
to  investigate  and  report  is  only  to  delude  the  poor  Indian  with 
false  hopes,  and  give  comfortable  positions  to  white  men  who 
want  them. 

There  is  little  doubt,  I  think  none  at  all,  but  these  Indians 
have  a  title  which  can  be  defended  in  a  court  of  justice.  The 
position  of  the  Senate  committee  that  the  Mexican  Govern 
ment  acknowledged  n"o  title  in  the  Indian  to  the  soil  is  not  ten 
able.  Such  titles  were  recognized,  and  by  the  Treaty  of  Gua- 
daloupe-Hidalgo  no  titles  to  property  were  to  be  invalidated 
by  the  transfer  of  territory  to  our  Government. 

But  this  is  the  question  which  should  be  definitely  settled, 


18 

and  to  which  I  would  earnestly  urge  that  the  Association  should 
address  itself:  bring  what  influence  it  can  rally  to  bear  upon 
the  administration  to  have  this  question  taken  up  and  pushed 
to  a  settlement  in  the  Department  of  Justice. 


THE   PIUTES   OF   NEVADA  AND   OREGON. 

One  object  of  my  mission  was  to  look  into  certain  disputed 
facts  touching  the  Pyramid  Lake  Reserve ;  the  condition  of  the 
Piutes  along  the  line  of  the  U.  P.  R.  R. ;  and,  at  the  request 
of  some  benevolent  and  most  excellent  ladies  of  Massachusetts, 
through  whom  I  had  transportation  over  some  of  the  roads 
traveled,  to  learn  the  truth  in  regard  to  a  protege  of  theirs,  an 
Indian  woman — Sarah  Winnemucca  Hopkins — for  whom  they 
have  done,  and  are  doing  much.  The  facts  and  proofs  in  sup 
port  of  my  conclusions  in  the  latter  case  I  have  duly  reported 
to  the  parties  entitled  to  them,  and,  as  they  regard  them  as 
their  own,  and  protest  against  a  public  disclosure  of  them,  I  will 
not  include  them  in  this  public  report,  but  only  state  the  conclu 
sion  to  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis  and  myself  were  reluctantly 
forced  by  abundant  evidence,  carefully  gathered  and  sifted,  that 
nothing  which  has  been  done  for  her  by  her  friends  in  the  East, 
or  elsewhere,  has,  so  far,  had  any  relation  whatever  to  her  own 
or  her  people's  progress ;  that  the  confidence  placed  in  her  has 
been  misplaced ;  that  the  claims  made  for  her  as  the  natural 
leader  of  her  people  have  no  foundation  in  blood  (she  is  not 
the  daughter  of  the  old  chief),  character,  or  confidence  and  love 
of  the  people  for  her. 

I  have  put  into  the  hands  of  these  good,  but  strangely- 
infatuated  ladies,  proofs  of  the  unreliable  and  bad  character 
of  this  woman  which  would  convince  any  one  who  is  not 
ready  to  take  the  word  of  Sarah  Winnemucca  as  a  complete 
answer  to,  and  refutation  of,  all  opposing  testimony  whatsoever, 
and  even  such  an  one  must  be  staggered  by  it,  for  they  have 
the  testimony  of  Sarah  against  herself. 

While  in  San  Francisco,  I  called,  in  company  with  Mr.  and  Mrs. 


Joshua  W.  Davis  (members  of  the  Boston  Branch  of  the  Indian 
Rights  Association,  who  proposed  visiting  with  me  these  Indians 
also,  as  they  had  the  Mission  Indians)  on  General  Pope  and  his 
Adjutant,  General  Kelton,  introduced  by  a  letter  from  the  act 
ing  Secretary  of  War.  General  Pope  presented  me  with  a 
paper  prepared  and  read  by  him  before  the  Social  Science 
Association  at  its  meeting  in  Cincinnati  in  1878;  a  valuable 
contribution  to  the  discussion  of  the  Indian  problem.  Gen 
eral  Kelton  I  found  to  be  interested  not  alone  in  the  Indian 
question,  but  intelligently  and  appreciatively  acquainted  with 
the  aims,  methods  and  work  of  the  Indian  Rights  Associa 
tion,  which  he  regards  as  having  about  the  same  relation  to 
the  Indian  problem  that  the  Christian  Commission  had  to  the 
success  of  our  armies  ;  connected  neither  with  the  Government' 
nor  with  the  Indian,  and  able  to  do  what  the  Agents  of  neither 
could  accomplish,  he  was  therefore  ready  to  give  me  all  the 
information  and  assistance  within  his  power. 

He  had  made  for  me  copies  of  reports  just  received  by  his 
department  from  Col.  Kautz  of  the  Eighth  Infantry,  who  was 
then  investigating  certain  murders  of  Indians,  committed  by 
the  whites  near  Fort  McDermitt,  on  the  Oregon  line,  and  doing 
what  he  could  to  avert  an  apprehended  outbreak. 

He  reports  under  date  of  June  29th,  1885  :  "  I  do  not  appre 
hend  any  outbreak  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  from  what  has 
occurred  so  far,  not  that  they  have  not  have  had  sufficient  cause, 
for  I  find  that  since  September  last  no  less  than  eleven  Indians 
have  been  killed  or  wounded  in  Southeastern  Oregon,  but 
because  the  Indians  are  not  in  condition  to  go  to  war,  and  the 
whites  greatly  outnumber  them. 

"  I  find  the  feeling  between  Indians  and  whites  in  Nevada  is 
much  more  friendly  than  it  is  in  Southeastern  Oregon.  I 
noticed  the  difference  was  very  marked.  Notwithstanding  the 
ranches  are  on  public  domain,  the  occupants  do  not  allow  the 
Indians  to  come  about  them,  and  even  forbid  their  hunting  and 
fishing  in  the  neighborhood.  Some  of  the  oldest  settlers,  who 
suffered  in  the  Bannock  War  of  '78,  still  cherish  enmity  against 


20 

the  Indians,  and  this  has  much  to  do  with  the  injustice  to  the 
Indians.  Some  of  the  whites  sympathize  with  the  Indians, 
and  strongly  condemned  the  outrages  committed,  but  they  are 
too  few  to  hope  that  the  law  can  be  enforced  against  a  white 
man  for  the  protection  of  the  Indians  in  Southeastern  Oregon." 

The  condition  of  these  Indians  is  truly  pitiable,  and  dis 
graceful  to  our  Government  and  to  the  whites  of  Oregon. 
They  belong  to  Leggin's  band  which  took  the  part  of  the 
whites  as  against  the  Bannocks,  in  the  outbreak  of  '78.  Their 
services  were  invaluable  to  our  army.  After  the  war  was  over 
the  Government  ordered  the  removal  of  the  Piutes  to  Yakama, 
Washington  Territory,  and  in  the  dead  of  winter,  with  infinite 
hardship  and  fearful  loss  of  life,  they  were  carried  over  the 
mountains,  no  distinction  being  made  between  this  band  which 
had  been  loyal  and  helpful  to  the  Government,  and  those  who 
had  not.  Secretary  Carl  Schurz  made  a  partial  promise  to  a 
delegation  who  asked  that  this  band  might  return  to  Malheur, 
their  old  home ;  but  the  protests  and  threats  of  the  citizens  of 
that  vicinity,  and  the  opinion  of  Gen.  Howard  that  it  could  not 
be  done  with  safety,  together  with  the  failure  of  Congress  to 
provide  means  for  their  removal,  prevented  the  fulfillment  of 
this  promise.  Their  old  home  was  disposed  of.  Homesick 
ness,  discontent,  and  false  hopes  industriously  instilled  into 
their  minds  caused  them  individually,  or  in  small  groups,  to 
leave  Yakama  and  straggle  back  toward  their  old  home,  which 
in  the  meantime  had  been  restored  to  the  public  domain  and 
opened  up  to  settlement.  They  are  now  scattered  about 
McDermitt,  and  along  the  line  between  Nevada  and  Oregon, 
having  no  home,  and  refusing  utterly  to  go  either  to  Pyramid 
Lake  or  Walker  River  Reservations,  to  which  places  the  other 
Piutes  have  mostly  returned,  because  of  hostilities  and  jealous- 
ness  of  the  past,  and  an  unwillingness  to  put  themselves  under 
the  power  of  the  Government  and  its  officials. 

Col.  Kautz  says : 

"  In  complying  with  the  order  to  make  recommendations,  what  should 


21 

be  done  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  War  Department  to  do,  namely,  to 
place  Leggin's  Band  on  some  suitable  Reservation  in  Southeastern 
Oregon,  and  provide  the  Indians  with  the  means  of  making  a  home  for 
themselves." 

Gen.  Kelton  was  desirous  that  I  should  go  to  McDermitt, 
and  form  an  opinion  as  to  its  adaptability,  with  some  additions 
to  it,  as  such  a  reservation  for  these  people ;  and  kindly  put  a 
conveyance  from  Winnemucca  to  that  military  reservation  at 
the  disposal  of  myself  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Davis,  of  which  we 
availed  ourselves,  being  hospitably  and  most  kindly  received 
and  entertained  by  Capt.  Winslow  and  wife,  and  those  associ 
ated  with  him  in  that  isolated  post. 

On  our  way  we  spent  some  days  at  Wadsworth,  Pyramid 
Lake,  and  Winnemucca,  making  diligent  inquiries  after  the 
truth,  so  much  obscured  by  most  conflicting  reports,  as  to  the 
quality  and  capacity  of  the  reservation ;  the  character  of  the 
Agent ;  the  condition  and  prospects  of  the  Indians,  both  on 
the  reservation  and  scattered  along  the  railroad  from  Truckee 
to  Winnemucca. 

As  to  the  Agent : — We  were  happily  disappointed,  and  most 
agreeably  surprised  to  learn  that  a  man  chosen,  as  it  was 
understood,  for  political  services  rendered  to  his  party ;  taken 
out  of  a  gambling  saloon,  which  was  also  a  liquor  saloon,  the 
ownership  and  management  of  which  had  been  his  occupation 
for  many  years,  could  make  a  good  Agent.  The  impossibil 
ity  of  this  was  a  foregone  conclusion,  so  settled  and  sure  that 
it  required  most  indisputable  facts  to  disapprove  it ;  but  these 
facts  we  found,  and  came  away  from  Pyramid  Lake,  all  of  us, 
fully  convinced  that  both  Agent  Gibson  and  his  wife,  with  the 
employees  of  the  Agency  had  been,  and  were  doing  a  most 
excellent  work,  which  they  had  very  much  at  heart ;  doing  it 
with  much  good  sense,  and  kindly  interest. 

Most  unequivocally,  and  earnestly  do  we  condemn  the  sys 
tem  which  allows,  and  almost  demands  that  Agents  shall  be 
appointed  primarily  for  considerations  unrelated  to  their  quali 
fications  for  their  delicate  duties,  but  when,  by  a  happy  accident, 


22 

a  man  thus  selected  is  found  to  be  adapted  to  the  work 
we  should  support  him  for  what  he  is  doing,  and  not  oppose 
him  for  what  he  has  been,  or  because  of  the  manner  of  his 
selection.  As  to  the  reservation : — It  has  been  much  en 
croached  upon,  the  town  of  Wadsworth  undoubtedly  being  built 
upon  it,  and  the  valley  down  the  Truckee  River  for  some  miles, 
the  best  land  on  it,  being  occupied  by  white  intruders.  There 
is  still  room  for  nearly  as  many  more  Indians  as  now  occupy 
it.  Some  one  hundred  families  (four  hundred  and  thirty-three 
individuals),  occupying  fifty-two  little  farms  of  fifteen  acres  each, 
are  distributed  up  and  down  the  river  from  the  Agency  build 
ing.  About  eight  hundred  acres  are  under  cultivation,  all  of 
which  can  be  irrigated  from  the  ditches  now  used,  and  about 
twelve  hundred  more  can  be  reached  from  one  nearly  com 
pleted.  They  have  recently  built  some  fourteen  houses,  but 
most  of  them  live  in  brush  teepes  and  are  less  advanced  in  this 
respect  than  many  other  tribes  I  have  seen.  A  very  large  per 
cent,  of  them  speak  English,  and,  so  far  as  I  remember,  they 
were  invariably  dressed  in  citizen's  clothing,  hence  the  surprise 
in  not  finding  more  houses.  The  explanation  is,  want  of  lum 
ber  and  inability  to  purchase  it.  There  is  a  fine  saw  mill,  but 
no  logs  to  saw,  excepting  cotton  wood.  This  saw  mill  suited 
to  saw  logs  which  they  do  not  have,  should  be  replaced  with  a 
grist  mill  to  grind  wheat  which  they  do  have  now,  and  would 
grow  in  much  larger  quantities  if  they  had  a  mill.  At  present 
they  must  haul  their  wheat  fifteen  miles  to  Wadsworth,  send 
it  by  car  to  Reno  at  an  expense  of  twenty-five  cents  per  hun 
dred  each  way,  and  then  haul  the  flour  back  fifteen  miles  to 
their  homes,  costing  them  fifty  cents  per  hundred,  and  two  full 
days  with  their  teams  for  each  load.  The  saving  of  time  and 
money  (and  time  is  beginning  to  have  value  to  these  people), 
by  the  exchange  suggested,  and  the  encouragement  given, 
would  enable  them  soon  to  purchase  the  much-needed  lumber, 
and  house  themselves  in  decent  and  comfortable  homes,  such 
as  fourteen  of  the  most  advanced  ones  have  already  built. 
If  their  reservation  was  rounded  out  to  its  rightful  limits,  its 


23 

bounds  settled  by  a  much-needed  survey,  and  their  fishing 
rights  on  the  Lake  protected,  it  would  be  sufficient  for  at  least 
eight  hundred  Indians,  who  would  soon  be  self-supporting. 

At  Walker  River  there  is  another  reservation  under  care  of 
the  same  Agent.  There  are  some  seven  hundred  of  the  best  Piutes 
at  this  place,  with  sufficient  land  for  all  who  are  there.  They 
much  need  irrigating  ditches,  farming  implements,  and  schools. 
No  attention  has  been  paid  them  until  recently.  The  wife  of 
the  resident  farmer  has  some  thirty-five  to  forty  children  gath 
ered  in  a  miserable  hut,  with  none  of  the  appliances  of  a  decent 
school,  but  had  succeeded  in  demonstrating  the  fact  that  the 
Indians  are  ready  and  anxious  to  avail  themselves  of  a  school 
if  they  could  have  it.  The  attention  of  the  Superintendent  of 
Schools  has  been  called  to  their  need. 

This  reservation,  when  supplied  with  irrigating  ditches, 
could  support  a  few  more  than  the  seven  hundred  Indians 
who  are  there ;  and  the  Pyramid  Lake  Reservation  would  be 
sufficient  for  some  more,  but  there  are  several  causes  which 
have  so  far,  and  will  doubtless  continue  to  prevent  the  landless 
ones,  scattered  from  Truckee  to  Winnemucca  along  the  rail 
road,  and  up  to,  and  over  the  line  into  Oregon,  from  coming 
on  either  of  them ;  feuds  among  themselves ;  pride  of  leader 
ship  on  the  part  of  petty  headmen  who  have  a  small  following ; 
unsatisfactory  experience  under  agents  in  the  past ;  restiveness 
under  the  tyranny  of  the  reservation  system ;  and,  in  not  a  few 
cases,  confidence  in  themselves,  and  proved  ability  to  do  better 
for  themselves  in  free  competition  in  the  labor  market  of  the 
State. 

The  testimony  of  the  citizens  was  uniform  that  these  Indians, 
scattered  out  among  the  whites,  were  a  much-needed  reliance 
on  the  farms  as  laborers,  and  in  the  kitchen  as  domestic  ser 
vants.  There  is  no  one  to  take  their  place  if  they  should  be 
removed,  and  none  would  fill  it  more  satisfactorily  in  the  pres 
ent  condition  of  things.  A  declared  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  to  put  them  on  a  reservation  would  scatter 
them  to  the  mountains.  False  reports  were  sent  to  Washington 


24 

a  year  ago  of  the  suffering  condition  of  those  about  Win- 
nemucca,  and  the  Agent  was  instructed  to  take  them  relief.  The 
Indians  were  indignant,  and  refused  to  receive  it,  asserting  to 
the  Agent,  as  some  whom  I  met  said  to  me,  that  they  neither 
needed  nor  desired  anything  from  the  Government ;  they  were 
able  to  support  themselves,  and  would  not  accept  aid,  fearing, 
I  think,  that  to  do  so  would  place  them  again  under  agency 
control.  There  had  been  some  suffering  among  Leggin's  Band 
at  Fort  McDermitt,  which  had  been  in  part  relieved  by  the 
commanding  officer  at  that  point.  This  was  not  because  sup 
plies  had  not  been  sent,  for  I  saw  large  bales  and  boxes  of 
goods  at  the  agency  for  these  people.  The  Agent  has  no 
authority  to  send  the  goods  to  them,  and  they  were  unwilling, 
perhaps  unable,  to  go  two  hundred  miles  for  them,  with  the 
probable  result  of  being  forced  to  remain  on  the  reservation 
along  with  bands  with  whom  they  were  at  strife,  and  under  a 
power  which  they  fear  and  hate.  These  people,  many  of  whom 
are  old  and  blind,  need  help,  and  it  ought  to  be  afforded  in  such 
way  that  it  shall  reach  them.  Winnemucca  is  the  natural  point 
to  which  the  goods  should  be  sent  on  the  railroad,  and  the 
officer  in  command  at  McDermitt  should  have  the  distribution 
of  them  until  something  has  been  decided  in  regard  to  a  per 
manent  home  for  them.  It  is  cruel  folly  to  send  their  goods 
where  there  are  insuperable  difficulties  in  the  way  of  getting 
them,  and  then  say  with  easy  indifference :  "  If  they  want  them, 
let  them  comply  with  the  regulations  of  the  department  under 
the  law." 

The  able-bodied  ones  among  these  scattered  Indians  are 
able  and  willing  to  do  what  every  such  one  ought  to  be  com 
pelled  to  do — take  care  of  one's  self.  They  will  not  go  on  to 
these  reservations,  where  they  would  be  in  some  sort  provided 
for,  and  the  attempt  ought  not  to  be  made  to  force  them  into 
this  bondage.  Their  condition  gives  rise  to  questions  and  dif 
ficulties  which  must  be  met  and  solved,  and  this  ought  to  be 
done  at  once.  These  men  and  women  are  earning  their  own 
living  as  laborers  in  the  towns  and  counties  in  which  they  live, 


25 

but  no  provision  is  made  for  the  aged,  blind,  insane,  and  pauper 
classes,  which,  among  the  whites,  find  asylum  in  public  insti 
tutions,  and  their  children  find  no  place  in  the  public  schools. 
What  is  the  solution  ?  Is  it  to  be  found  in  the  ready  and  easy 
answer :  Force  them  on  to  a  reservation  ?  Crowd  them  com 
pactly  about  an  agency,  and  then  persuade  Congress  to  enlarge 
its  school  appropriations  and  its  food  issues,  until  we  can  boast 
that  there  is  not  a  single  one  who  lacks  for  a  dinner,  a  blanket, 
or  a  chance  at  school  training  ?  Against  this  both  the  whites 
and  the  Indians,  not  to  say  common  sense,  protest.  They  are 
doing  just  what  they  ought  to  be  encouraged  to  do.  The  solu 
tion  of  the  Indian  problem  is  to  be  found  along  the  lines  these 
people  are  following,  and  they  should  be  helped,  not  hindered  ; 
but  they  must  not  be  left  without  teachers  and  missionaries 
because  they  are  trying  to  make  self-respecting  men  of  them 
selves.  Conditions  favorable  must  be  furnished,  and  they  must 
not  be  forced  back  into  those  from  which  they  have  broken 
away.  Either  the  State,  county,  and  towns  must  be  encouraged 
and  induced  to  bring  them  under  the  operation  of  their  school 
and  charitable  systems  and  institutions,  or  they  must  be  helped 
by  the  Government  where  they  are.  It  is  difficult  to  bring 
anamolies  under  law  and  harmonize  absurdities  with  common 
sense,  and  it  is  scarce  worth  while  to  continue  the  effort  to  do  so. 
If  the  Indian  is  a  man,  and  a  candidate  for  full  citizenship  under 
our  laws,  let  us  seek  to  adjust  our  treatment  of  him  to  this  fact. 
In  a  less  degree,  but  still  to  an  embarrassing  extent,  the  dif 
ficulties  of  these  people  are  also  found  on  those  reserva 
tions  on  which  the  Indians  are  forsaking  their  miserable  shan 
ties  about  the  Agency  where  they  have  simply  waited  for  their 
food  to  be  thrown  out  to  them,  and  are  scattering  out  over  the 
reservation,  taking  up  farms  wherever  they  find  the  best 
lands.  So  far  as  the  school  and  missionary  work  is  concerned 
the  old  concentration  afforded  more  ready  access  to  the  peo 
ple.  If  they  go  out  to  their  farms  they  get  away  from  the 
teacher;  but  it  should  be  remembered  if  the  pupil  is  more 
difficult  to  get  at,  he  is  more  worth  the  effort,  a  compensation 


26 

in  which  is  our  hope  of  success.  The  conclusion  is  driven  in 
upon  us  from  all  directions  that  we  cannot  solve  our  problem 
until  we  admit  its  fundamental  postulate,  which  is,  that  the 
Indian  is  a  man,  and  must  have  exactly,  and  none  other  than, 
the  chances,  opportunities  and  rights  of  a  man,  and  must  be 
appealed  to  by  the  motives  which  move  men. 

The  condition  of  things  is  much  more  unfavorable  over  the 
line  in  Oregon  than  in  Nevada,  as  reported  by  Col.  Kautz. 
The  hostility  of  the  whites,  and  the  defenceless  condition  of 
the  Indians  in  their  courts  afford  some  urgent  ground  for  con 
sidering  his  suggestion  that  a  reservation  be  set  aside  for  them. 
These  crimes  against  the  Indians,  committed  under  the  juris 
diction  of  the  State  Courts,  are,  of  course,  beyond  that  of  the 
United  States  Courts,  and  are  not  punished.  I  give  one  as  a 
fair  sample.  Three  men,  or  fiends,  agree  to  visit  an  Indian 
camp,  knowing  there  are  only  two  old  men  and  a  blind  man 
to  defend  the  women  against  their  lustful  assaults,  the  men 
being  away  on  a  hunt  for  food.  They  made  the  blind  man 
drunk,  and  then  killed  one  of  the  old  men  who  stood  between 
his  wife  and  their  purpose.  They  afterwards  stole  horses  and 
were  lodged  in  the  jail  of  Grant  county  for  trial  on  charge  of 
this  theft.  The  attention  of  Attorney-General  Garland  was 
called  to  the  crime  of  murder  which  they  had  committed  on  a 
ward  of  the  Government,  and  by  his  instructions  the  United 
States  Attorney  for  that  district  had  correspondence  with  the 
sheriff  of  the  county  in  regard  to  it.  I  saw  a  copy  of  his  let 
ter,  and  of  the  sheriff's  reply.  He  said  there  were  no  men  in 
his  custody  charged  with  murder  on  an  Indian  or  Military 
Reservation,  and  he  would  not  surrender  the  men  to  the 
United  States  authority.  In  mitigation  of  their  crime  of 
horse-stealing  these  men  pleaded  the  fact  that  the  Indians 
were  after  them.  This  hung  the  jury,  who  did  not  agree  on  a 
verdict  until  the  judge  berated  them  for  continuing  the  case  as 
an  expense  to  the  county,  when  without  delay  they  acquitted 
the  prisoners.  This  seems  to  be  the  sentiment  that  controls 
and  dominates  public  action  in  that  section. 


27 

I  would  therefore  acquiesce  in,  and  recommend  the  sugges 
tion  of  Col.  Kautz,  and  agree  with  Genl.  Kelton  that  the  mili 
tary  post  of  McDermitt,  and  reservation  attached,  be  enlarged 
somewhat,  and  turned  over  for  the  use  of  these  Indians. 
Schools,  in  case  Nevada  cannot  be  induced  to  provide  for 
them,  ought  to  be  opened  at  Wadsworth,  Lovelocks,  Winne- 
mucca  and  other  points  off  the  reservations  for  the  children 
living  there,  and  those  on  the  reservation  ought  to  be  en 
larged,  so  as  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon  them.  The 
wife  of  Capt.  Winslow  of  McDermitt,  who  did  excellent  work 
while  stationed  in  California,  has  been  allowed  to  open  a  school 
for  those  about  the  Fort,  and  those  excellent  and  untiring 
friends  of  Sarah  Winnemucca,  Miss  Peabody  and  Mrs.  Mann, 
have  furnished  money  to  build  a  school-house  at  Lovelocks, 
and  open  a  school  under  her  care  with  what  success  will  be 
seen  in  the  future.  There  was  neither  school-house  nor 
school  when  I  was  there,  but  since  that  time  a  house  has  been 
built  and  a  school  opened  with  -such  success,  according  to  the 
glowing  reports  given  in  the  papers  by  Miss  Peabody,  that 
appeals  are  made  for  funds  to  enlarge  its  accommodations. 

All  friends  of  the  Indian  ought  to  be  glad  of  this,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  the  efforts  to  establish  a  good  school  at  this  point 
will  be  wisely  supported.  Let  those  who  are  disposed  to  give 
such  support  first  make  certain  the  fact  that  what  they  give  will 
be  secured  to  the  object  for  which  they  give.  Sarah,  though  the 
angel  which  she  is  pictured  to  be  in  the  appeals  that  have  been 
made  for  this  school,  is  yet  a  mortal  angel,  and  may  die  the 
day  this  new  building  is  dedicated,  and  as  it  will  stand,  with 
the  one  already  built,  on  the  land  given  by  Mr.  Stanford  to 
Natchez  and  Sarah,  it  might  pass  out  of  the  control  of  those 
who  built  it  for  a  school. 

FORT  HALL  RESERVATION.— BANNOCKS  AND 
SHOSHONES. 

A  visit  to  this  reservation  rounded  out  the  limits  of  my 
time  on  this  journey.  It  was  my  second  visit  and  gave  me 


28 

opportunity  for  a  comparison  I  have  not  been  able  to  make 
before.     The  proofs  of  progress  were  most  encouraging. 

There  are  1432  Indians  under  the  care  of  Dr.  Cook  at  this 
agency  on  Ross  Fork,  Idaho — 472  Bannocks,  and  960  Shos- 
hones.  Issues  are  made  to  290  families.  There  are  252  children 
between  the  ages  of  six  and  sixteen,  with  an  average  attendance 
at  school  of  thirty-five  for  nine  and  one-half  months  last  year. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  these  two  peoples,  so  unlike,  should  be 
placed  on  the  same  reservation.  The  Shoshones  are  progress 
ive  and  anxious  to  advance ;  the  Bannocks  are  brighter  intel 
lectually,  fond  of  fighting,  gambling,  thieving,  horse-stealing, 
and  averse  to  labor  and  civilized  pursuits.  They  cultivated 
last  year  866  acres  of  land,  raised  5,500  bushels  potatoes,  5,600 
wheat;  16,000  oats;  500  barley;  of  this  the  Bannocks  raised 
600  bushels  wheat,  and  1,000  oats.  This  year  their  crops  are 
much  larger. 

They  cut  hay  and  sell  it  to  cattlemen.  Last  year  they  put 
up  950  tons,  this  year  1,200.  They  have  bought  and  paid  for 
twenty-one  mowing  machines  within  the  past  three  years ;  ten 
of  them  this  summer.  They  have  within  two  years  built  sev 
enty-two  houses,  fifty-five  of  them  since  last  spring. 

According  to  the  report  of  Lieutenant  Walker  of  the  Sixth 
Infantry,  who  was  sent  by  General  McCook  to  investigate  some 
difficulties,  threatening  in  their  character,  during  the  past  sum 
mer,  a  copy  of  which  General  McCook  caused  to  be  made  for  me, 
and  whose  courtesies  to  me  personally,  and  whose  intelligent 
interest  in  my  mission  I  wish  to  acknowledge.  Dr.  Cook  takes 
great  interest  in  his  Indians,  and  shows  great  tact  and  force  in 
their  management.  This  was  strikingly  evident  to  one  who 
had  gone  over  the  reservation  once,  and  after  two  years  makes 
a  second  visit.  Dr.  Cook  has  evidently  learned  the  secret  of 
managing  and  inspiring  them  to  a  new  life,  and  is  one  of  the 
men  who  ought  to  be  retained  in  the  service,  if  the  object  is  to 
advance  and  civilize  the  Indians,  and  not  simply  to  furnish 
positions  for  men  who  want  place  for  political  or  other  consid 
erations. 


29 

The  undoubted  good  intentions  of  the  present  Administra 
tion  so  far  as  the  Indians  are  concerned,  will  be  crippled,  if  not 
utterly  wrecked,  if  the  spoils  system  finds  recognition  in  the 
displacement  and  appointment  of  agents.  Weak,  or  otherwise 
unsuitable,  men  will  work  infinite  damage,  no  matter  how  good 
may  be  their  intentions.  New  men,  however  able  or  honest, 
ought  not  to  displace  men  of  experience,  unless  this  experience 
has  proved  their  incompetency.  The  school  work  here,  unfor 
tunately,  has  been  very  weak  ;  while  the  opportunity  for  it  has 
been  very  good.  The  Agent  found  it  impossible  for  the  salary 
paid  to  secure  competent  teachers.  The  School  Superintend 
ent  has  done  what  I  strongly  recommended  and  urged  should 
be  done,  in  detaching  the  school  from  the  agency,  employing 
a  superintendent  at  an  insufficient  salary  indeed,  but  with  bet 
ter  hopes,  and  has  planned  to  enlarge  its  facilities  up  to  the 
needs  of  these  people.  There  is  urgent  call  for  missionary 
work  among  these  neglected  people,  as  also  among  the  Piutes 
of  Nevada,  who  seem  to  be  entirely  forgotten  by  the  churches 
of  our  land,  who  listen  to  the  Macedonian  cry  of  other  lands 
and  other  nations,  but  recognize  no  obligations  to  those  for 
whom  we  alone  as  Christians  are  responsible. 

The  easy  possibility  of  solving  our  problem  if  we  could 
only  be  induced  to  take  hold  of  it  in  the  right  way,  the 
almost  hopelessness  of  it  so  long  as  we  do  not,  is  the  over 
whelming  conviction  with  which  this  long  and  most  interest 
ing  journey  and  tour  of  observation  closed. 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C,  April  I4th,  1886. 


LIST  OF  OFFICERS  FOR  THE  YEAR  1886. 


PRESIDENT, 

DR.  JAMES  E.  RHOADS. 

VICE-PRESIDENT, 

CLEMENT  M.  BIDDLE. 

TREASURER, 

C.  STUART  PATTERSON. 

CORRESPONDING  SECRETARY, 

HERBERT  WELSH. 

RECORDING  SECRETARY. 

A.  B.  WEIMAR. 


EXECUTIVE 

CLEMENT  M.  BIDDLE, 
WM.  O.  BUTLER, 
WILLIAM  DRAYTON, 
ROBERT  FRAZER, 
W.  W.  FRAZIER,  JR., 
PHILIP  C.  GARRETT, 
REV.  J.  ANDREWS  HARRIS,  D 
J.  TOPLIFF  JOHNSON, 
WAYNE  MACVEAGH, 
EFFINGHAM  B.  MORRIS, 


COMMITTEE, 

WISTAR  MORRIS, 

A.  E.  OUTERBRIDGE,  JR. 

CHARLES  E.  PANCOAST, 
HENRY  S.  PANCOAST, 
C.  STUART  PATTERSON, 
J.  RODMAN  PAUL, 
.  D.,  JAMES  E.  RHOADS, 

REV.  H.  L.  WAYLAND, 
A.  B.  WEIMAR, 
HERBERT  WELSH. 


